"I refuse."
In the Jiang family's side parlor, Jiang Xuxu looked at Guan Qishen and gave her answer without a moment's hesitation.
Guan Qishen was visibly stunned, even thinking he had misheard her. "Wh what did you say?"
"I said, I. Re. Fuse." Seeing that he seemed unable to hear clearly, Jiang Xuxu kindly repeated herself, enunciating every single word.
Guan Qishen's expression immediately soured. Including the last encounter, this was already the second time Xuxu had refused to listen to him.
"Xuxu, don't be temperamental. I know you're still angry about Mom making you leave the Guan family that day, but we are all one family. Besides, if it weren't for Mom and Dad, it would have been impossible for you to return to the Jiang family now."
Jiang Xuxu spared him a glance. "By your logic, I should be grateful to you all?"
Guan Qishen was about to speak when Jiang Xuxu cut him off bluntly. "Furthermore, I am no longer part of your family. My surname is Jiang now."
"Even if you've recognized your biological parents, we are still family!" Guan Qishen knitted his brows. "Or is it true what they say? That now that you've become the eldest miss of the Jiang family, you don't want to acknowledge us anymore?"
Jiang Xuxu simply stared at him and asked in a cool tone, "And what if I say yes?"
When Jiang Su came downstairs to get some fresh-squeezed juice, he saw Jiang Han leaning against the second-floor railing, watching something with an expression like he was at a theater. As soon as Jiang Su approached, he happened to hear Jiang Xuxu's remark.
The Jiang family villa had two living rooms, one in the front and one in the back. The main hall in the front was generally used for family gatherings or receiving guests and was quite formal. The side parlor in the back was relatively smaller and sat directly below the second-floor railing. In other words, one could clearly see everything happening in the side parlor from above.
Jiang Su almost instantly forgot about his juice and twisted his body to lean over the edge. Two heads huddled together, listening intently to the gossip downstairs.
Below, Jiang Xuxu maintained her cold posture and said simply, "I told you the day I left the Guan house that I have nothing to do with you anymore. Even if I weren't the Jiang family's eldest daughter, I still wouldn't want to recognize you."
Guan Qishen's face turned extremely ugly for a moment due to Xuxu's words, but he quickly restrained himself and said in a heavy voice, "Xuxu, I've already heard about what happened at the banquet.
Regardless of why Mom and Dad did what they did, they were the ones who raised you. To be so eager to sever ties with the Guan family in front of so many people... do you have any idea how much you've hurt them? Mom and Dad have never fought before, but they argued incessantly that day because of you, and they both fell ill the same evening."
Guan Qishen started with a stern lecture but then softened his tone. "Even so, they don't blame you. They were even willing to let me bring Grandma's Bracelet to find you. Xuxu, Mom and Dad have really been good to you. Don't always be so ungrateful."
A vein throbbed slightly at Jiang Xuxu's temple.
In the past, she had always felt that Guan Qishen was the only normal person in the Guan family. After all, throughout their childhood, he had never deliberately suppressed her like Guan Ruirui or intentionally framed her to get her scolded. Instead, he would proactively ask about her studies, send her birthday gifts, and occasionally comfort her when she was being punished by Bai Shuqin.
Because of this, she had tried to treat Guan Qishen as her real brother, doing all sorts of things for him in an attempt to gain a little warmth from him. But later, she discovered the truth.
Guan Qishen was not at all who she thought he was.
His concern for her studies was only because he didn't want her to embarrass the Guan family. The birthday gifts he gave her were things his admirers had given him that he didn't want. He comforted her only to keep her from making a scene.
Guan Qishen was simply better at masking his hypocrisy and selfishness than the rest of the Guan family. From that perspective, he and Guan Baocheng truly were father and son.
"That bracelet was originally left to me by Grandma anyway. You want me to help you, and yet I'm only asking Guan Ruirui to personally return the things she stole from me. I've already been quite good to you why are you so ungrateful?"
Jiang Xuxu threw Guan Qishen's own words back in his face. Upstairs, Jiang Su nearly burst out laughing and only managed to keep quiet by clamping his hand over his mouth.
The two people downstairs remained oblivious to the audience.
Guan Qishen frowned deeply. "Ruirui is injured! She's seriously hurt!"
"What does that have to do with me?"
Guan Qishen looked at her in disbelief. "Xuxu! How have you become like this?! Ruirui is your sister after all; she called you 'Sister' for over ten years!"
Jiang Xuxu just looked at him with a cold smirk, her tone dripping with mockery. "A sister who would push her own sibling out to be hit by a car just to ward off a disaster for herself? I can't afford such a sister."
She hadn't told anyone about the car accident that day. She knew that even if she spoke up, no one would believe her.
The accident that Bai Shuqin called Guan Ruirui's 'eighteenth-year calamity' had been aimed at Ruirui from the start. But the moment Ruirui saw the car rushing toward her, her first instinct had been to push Xuxu, who was standing right beside her, into its path.
Neither Bai Shuqin nor Guan Ruirui had expected her to survive that crash. And just as Jiang Xuxu anticipated, Guan Qishen's first reaction upon hearing this was denial.
"What nonsense are you talking?! How could Ruirui possibly do such a thing?!"
"Xuxu, I understand that you feel some psychological imbalance after your accident, but you can't just blame others at random."
"You claim Ruirui pushed you to block the car why didn't you say anything then?"
"And even if we take a step back and assume she really did it, it would have been an unconscious act born of extreme fear. As her older sister, what's wrong with shielding Ruirui from a disaster? Why must you always be so petty and nitpicky about it?"
Guan Qishen prattled on with his lecture, his voice full of condemnation and disappointment, leaving Jiang Su upstairs utterly dumbfounded.
When he heard the man accuse Jiang Xuxu of being "petty," the teenager could no longer remain calm.
"Holy shit, look at this temper of mine!"
Muttering a curse, he rolled up his sleeves and turned to run downstairs. He moved so fast that even Jiang Han couldn't grab him in time.
It was only then that Guan Qishen realized someone was upstairs, and his face changed slightly. By contrast, Jiang Xuxu was much more composed; she had clearly known they were there all along.
Meanwhile, Jiang Su had already stomped down the stairs. Dragging his slippers, he burst straight into the side parlor, pointed a finger at Guan Qishen, and began to roar.
"Screw your father! Is your entire Guan family suffering from some mental illness? The women are venomous snakes, and the men are hypocritical fakes! Your sister pushed her into a car, and you call it being 'petty' when she mentions it? Well, why don't you go out and get hit by a car for a change?"
"Oh, look at that arm in a sling. I guess you've already been hit once, haven't you? When you went to the hospital for your arm, why didn't you have the doctor check your brain while they were at it? It looks like your head was smashed long ago!"
🚨 Note: Consider supporting this story on Patreon.com/kleinmoretti to access 100+ advance chapters and 2 new chapters daily! (Full story bundles also available without a subscription).